BREA president notes COVID pandemic “unleashed a never-before-seen demand for property in warm climate markets” like The Bahamas
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) has inked links with realty associations in two major affluent markets in the US in recent weeks, signing memorandums of understanding with Long Island, New York, and Sarasota, Florida, real estate groups.
BREA President Christine Wallace-Whitfield called the initiative, one of its most far-reaching efforts to date, “historic and significant”.
“The COVID-19 pandemic that forced people to work remotely unleashed a never-before-seen demand for property in warm climate markets, especially those like The Bahamas, where the lifestyle is enviable,” said Wallace-Whitfield.
“While we were experiencing this explosive demand for residential, we were also seeing more agents coming in from abroad, so we wanted to reach out, network, see how we could work together and make them formally aware of the law requiring foreign agents or brokers to co-broke with a BREA-licensed agency or member.
We are in this high-demand situation together and the closer we work with one another, the more all of us will benefit from it.
– BREA President Christine Wallace-Whitfield
“At the same time, we wanted to share information about our market, useful insights into the processes around real estate transactions in The Bahamas and shed light on the Family Islands.”
The presentation to realtors in Long Island, NY, was face-to-face; in Sarasota, it was virtual.
“It was an honor to accept invitations from both organizations and to deliver key messages, including sharing the many similarities between our professionals in The Bahamas and theirs,” said the four-term president.
“I think there was a general level of surprise at how sophisticated our profession is.
“When people think of The Bahamas, they think of the visitor experience — lying on a chaise lounge with the sun beating down on your face — and they don’t realize that for the working professional, it is an all-out, consuming occupation, or that we rely on the MLS (multiple listing service) as they do, or that their rules and regulations, as set by the National Association of Realtors, are our rules and regulations.”
The veteran broker said audiences in both presentations were happy to hear professional standards in The Bahamas were so stringent.
“I assured them that we were more alike than we are different,” said Wallace-Whitfield, citing one major difference.
“We still do not have a digital land registry, but we are working on it,” she said.
Florida, she noted, has grown by more than 400,000 new residents since April 2020, a month after the pandemic started — a number that roughly equals the population of The Bahamas.
“If Florida is the number one choice of Americans for relocating since the COVID-19 pandemic turned our worlds upside down, The Bahamas is the number one choice in this hemisphere outside the US,” she said.
“Like you, networking is the foundation on which we stand and trust is the pillar on which we depend.
“But, unlike you, we are spread out over 500 miles and 100,000 square miles of open ocean.”
Wallace-Whitfield explained that the frequency of flights, inter-island ferry service and availability of private planes and vessels all make visits to remote properties reasonable.
Above all, she said she wanted to ensure audiences in New York and Sarasota that working with a local agent who has local knowledge and will hand-hold a buyer from abroad through the transaction was to their advantage.
“Working with a local agent is in your favor as well as being the legal and ethical thing to do,” she explained.
“As BREA agents, it is our responsibility to understand the law, to know the market in the immediate area where your client is looking, to share information about closing costs and real property tax, to explain Central Bank and other monetary and regulatory policies.
“You would not wander into a strange land without a map and you should not wander into The Bahamas without letting one of our licensed agents be that map for you.
“We are in this high-demand situation together and the closer we work with one another, the more all of us will benefit from it.”
